DELMAR -- A Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute doctoral student was arrested after police found a slew of dangerous chemicals in his Delmar apartment building Tuesday night.

Jason D. Sanchez, 24, had refused to leave his apartment in the Cherry Arms Apartments on Delaware Avenue during an evacuation precipitated by the discovery of a suspicious device in a common storage area, police said. His resistance prompted him to be arrested on charges of obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest.

A subsequent search warrant resulted in the discovery of a number of potentially dangerous chemicals in Sanchez's possession, police said. They allegedly found acetone, xylene, nitric acid, sulfuric acid, propane and butane.

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While some of those chemicals are common, like sulfuric acid, others, like nitric acid, are used in things like jet fuel.

"I've been told by experts that, in the right quantities, if some or all of those are blended, they can make explosives," Bethlehem Deputy Police Chief Timothy Beebe said.

Also discovered was a commercial-grade vacuum chamber, police said -- the unusual device that triggered the initial call from a concerned neighbor.

According to media reports, he is the brother of Keenan Sanchez, who was badly burned when the Delmar home he lived in exploded in a year ago. Police said at the time that Jason Sanchez, who was not home at the time, may have been handling dangerous chemicals in the basement.

After Tuesday night's discovery, Jason Sanchez was also charged with first-degree reckless endangerment. He had bail set at $15,000 at his arraignment in Bethlehem Town Court.

According to his Facebook page, he is working towards a doctorate at RPI in computational neuroanatomy, which is the application of computer technology to the study of the human nervous system.